Retaking Mosul
Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq and has been under control of the Islamic State (also known as ‘the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,’ or ISIL) since June of 2014. But the Islamic State has been taking military hits for some months now and Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with backing from U.S. warplanes, have set their sights on retaking Mosul.
The Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, made the announcement of their move upon Mosul on national TV in the pre-dawn hours on Monday. Mosul, in Northern Iraq, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Baghdad, is the Islamic State’s last remaining stronghold in the country.
The operation is underway and is being live streamed on Facebook by the Al-Jazeera news organization, Channel 4 in the U.K., and other news media. The feed is from the Kurdish media group, Rudaw, which has Arabic and English-language sites. Just as with other events posted on Facebook, viewers can leave comments on the feeds they are seeing.
Islamic State stronghold
The Islamic State is estimated to have as many as 6,000 fighters in Mosul. Kurdish troops, known also as peshmerga, are already experiencing opposition to their advance but are reported to have already retaken 10 villages. Islamic State forces have lined the roads into Mosul, and into the surrounding villages, with booby traps and IEDs (improvised explosive devices).
Joining the 25,000 to 30,000 Iraqi troops and the Kurdish troops in what is being described as an uneasy alliance are Sunni tribal fighters, Shiite militias, elite counter-terrorism units and police units. The movement of Iraqi and peshmerga fighters, and the others, is expected to be slow and the retaking of the city could take weeks or even months.
Mosul has an estimated 1.4 million people (some estimates say less), down from the 2.5 million it had before the Islamic State overran the city. Many have left or been killed and the United Nations has expressed fear that many of those stuck remaining there will be killed as a result of the offensive.
It is believed to be the first time a war has been live streamed on Facebook. The results of live streaming the events will depend on how close to actual fighting reporters and cameras and operators are able to get.
